Zoho continues to create plug-ins to let users migrate data created in Microsoft's on-premise applications to Zoho's cloud computing application environments. The latest free plug-in, Zoho Plug-in for Microsoft Access, lets users import their data from Microsoft Access database applications to Zoho Creator. The idea is to help Microsoft customers migrate to Zoho's SAAS suites.
Zoho July 9 released Zoho Plug-in for Microsoft Access, a free software
add-on to let Microsoft users migrate database information housed on their
desktop computers to the Internet cloud.
As the moniker suggests,
Zoho Plug-in for Microsoft Access lets users import their database information
from Microsoft Office Access, a database application that sits on
Microsoft Windows-based desktops, to Zoho Creator, the AdventNet subsidiary's
program for creating and running database applications as SAAS (software as a
service).
The software add-on will
also bring Microsoft Access data to Zoho Reports, the SAAS business
intelligence tool for analyzing data and creating charts, dashboards and pivot
tables.
Resource Library:
With the plug-in, users
who migrate their database files from Microsoft Access to Zoho Creator will see
a new application created with tables and views that may be shared with
multiple users for collaboration in the workplace. Users can share a whole
application or just a particular form or a report.
Why would users want to
migrate their database information from Microsoft Office Access to Zoho
Creator? Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegnesa told eWEEK that users who want to create
database-based apps must use Microsoft Office Access in conjunction with a
Microsoft Visual Basic front end.
With the new plug-in,
Vegnesa said "users can just import their data to Zoho Creator and we
automatically create the front-end application for their database."
The ability to bring a
database app online is another major reason to download the plug-in. Users may
create database files using Microsoft Office Access but these files are
tethered to their desktops.
As ReadWriteWeb's Steven
Walling noted, these files must be ported to the Web through Microsoft
SharePoint Services, MySQL or PostgreSQL. Zoho Creator apps can be shared
easily because they live on the Web.
Once users port their
database app to Zoho Creator, users can edit the app online and add more
business data using Zoho's Deluge Script scripting language. When an app is
created in Zoho Creator, it can also be deployed onto Google App Engine.
Another reason is the
traditional on-premise versus SAAS argument. Users pay $15 per user per month
for any number of applications and up to 3 users without buying any software or hardware or
install, maintain or upgrade on a periodic basis.
The new plug-in is the
continuation of a trend for Zoho, which is appealing to businesses looking to
migrate their data from Microsoft desktops to the comfort of the cloud. For
example, Zoho July 1 started allowing users to import their Microsoft Project
projects to Zoho Projects.
Last month, Zoho released
Zoho Office for Microsoft SharePoint, a software module that will let Zoho
Office users create new documents and save them to SharePoint in Microsoft
Office formats.
The trend is clear;
whether it's Zoho or Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, software providers
are increasingly trying to bridge the gap between Microsoft's on-premise
application legacy and the Internet through SAAS.
$15 a month! It is extremely expensive when we know that MSAccess Runtime is free, that WSS is free, and that a license MSAccess returns to 20 months...
Cloud Computing 
